Process management systems are known for monitoring and controlling processes in order to obtain in optimum operation and control thereof. After decades of refining and improving these process management systems, industries are learning that the gains coming out of the process management systems are reaching a diminishing set of returns. Therefore, other areas of system management need to be addressed for industries to meet the immense challenge of remaining competitive.
One key area of industrial plant management lies in the ability to manage assets of the plant. For example, in industrial plants like petrochemical plants and power generation plants, it is a challenge to ensure that unusual events get managed using past learning experience and according to a specific procedure. There are many different roles in an industrial plant's organization making the management challenge complex. It is possible that one group of people is responsible for the operation of the plant, another group is responsible for the maintenance of machinery, and yet another group is responsible for the maintenance of instrumentation. Unusual events are not repetitive enough to keep people's memory of the procedures refreshed. To make matters worse, many unusual events occur so infrequently that people who managed and learned from the last situation have either changed jobs or are not available by the time a similar event occurs again.
Many times these events can have profound impact if not managed correctly. Improper management of one of these infrequent events may cause loss of life, loss of property, fugitive emissions and other undesirable consequences. Therefore, what is needed is a system which, inter alia, helps people at the time of the event remember what needs to be done and what has been learned before in similar or related events.
Furthermore, an asset management system is needed which maximizes an asset's life while minimizing its cost. Thus, the asset management system may be used in combination with a process management system to optimize assets and processes simultaneously to maximize profits.
However, a typical plant employing an asset management system will require more information input than was required with just the process management system. Therefore, a problem exists in providing an inexpensive media which will transfer information from the added multiplicity of sensors or measuring points to a central location of the system. For example, in order to manage a process in a plant there may have been one thousand sensors and now what is needed is five thousand sensors to manage the process and assets of the plant. The information from the sensors or measuring points are typically coupled to a central location via a field bus. The field bus standard today allows for six units or sensors coupled per wire. This is limited by the fact that the sensors coupled to the bus have to remain on all the time in order that they provide the proper control functions to the sensors. Therefore, these field buses are serving a dual purpose in controlling the various sensors and feeding back information of their operation. In an intrinsically safe environment the field bus may be allowed to only be coupled to four units or sensors to meet the low power requirements required in this type of environment. Thus, a need exists for a field bus which allows for a large number of sensors to be operatively coupled thereto such that installation and hardware cost may be lowered while retaining a field bus system which remains operable in an intrinsically safe environment.
In today's modern industrial plants the assets of the plant are provided by a variety of different manufacturers. Therefore, the deep knowledge base of an individual asset is usually of a proprietary nature. Thus, problems exist in obtaining the deep knowledge of a particular asset and incorporating it into an asset management system without the proprietary information being divulged for the benefit of the asset manufacturer's competitor. Thus, a need exists for a system to be appendable without the deep knowledge of any particular asset being disseminated and without interfering with the operation of the overall system.
In addition, a need exists for an asset management system which gives the right people concise information at appropriate times so that they are able to make correct decisions.
The following prior art reflects the state of the art of which applicant is aware and is included herewith to discharge applicant's acknowledged duty to disclose relevant prior art. It is stipulated, however, that none of these references teach singly nor render obvious when considered in any conceivable combination the nexus of the instant invention as disclosed in greater detail hereinafter and as particularly claimed.
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